Wardrobe-trunk.



j E. W. HAWLEY.

', WARDROBE TRUNK.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 13. 1911.

Patented Feb. 20, I912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET}.

E.,W. HAWL'EY. WARDROBE TRUNK ABPLIOATION FILED JUNE 1x19 1213 EPateHteQ :fir bi 20,1912.

' 2 SHEETS-BHEET 2.

- ATTORNEYS.

EUGENE W. HAWLEY, 0F PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANTA;

WARDROBE-TRUNK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 20, 1912.

Applieatipn filed June 13, 1911; Serial No. 632,964.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EUGENE W. HAWLEY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Philadelphia, county of Philadelphia, and

State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in\Vardrobe- Trunks, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, whichform a part of this specification.

The object of applicants invention is to provide a trunk, capable ofbeing used wardrobe trunk, of minimum depth. Such a trunk hasbeenordinarily considered to be impracticable, because owing to itsshallowness it is incapable of holding articles of a size for whichtrunk compartments of substantially greater depth are usually provided.It is known, however, to provide tumble boxes in place of drawers; thatis, receptacles so pivoted that they may be swung from an uprightposition against the trunk bottom, to a horizontal position; but theadvantage of this arrangement has been neutralized by the apparentnecessity of so pivoting them, and of making them so short, that whenswung out. into horizontal position, their centers of gravity will bewell within the base'of the trunk body. This necessitates the provisionof so broad a base for the compartment containing the tumble boxes as tocreate a waste space of considerable volume in front of the boxes,besides limiting the width of the boxes, thus making impossible theattainment of either the desired minimum depth of trunk body or thedesired maximunfwidth of receptacles.

In my invention, I attain the result of capacious receptacles withoutwaste of space and with a minimum depth of trunk body by utilizing theprinciple of tumble boxes but so arranging them that when folded againstthe trunk bottom they will occupy substantially the entire compartmentand by so pivoting them that when swung out their centers of gravitywill be outside the base of the trunk body; and then, to preventoverturning of the trunk, so hinge the two compartments thereof thatthey cannot be opened into a parallel relation and therefore cannotbecome top-heavy and fall even when the tumble-boxes are swung out;although they can be opened to a sufiicient extent to allow ready accessto either compartment of the trunk.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspecasa - means'of rivets 71.;

tive view of the trunk in an open position looking toward the frontthereof; Fig. 2 is a partial vertical section through one compartment;Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the trunk in an open position lookingtoward the rear thereof; and Fig. 4: is a. detail in perspective of thedevice for limiting the extent to which the trunk may be opened.

The trunk is composed of-two compartments (4 and b hinged together bymeans of the usual hinges o. The compartment a is ,shown as providedwith a garment supporting attachmentcl, upon which is suspended agarment hanger e. The other compartment is provided with a series oftumbleboxes or trays f spaced apart by means of partitions g. It will beobserved that compartment I), like compartment a, is quite shallow, andthat the width of the boxes 1 (that is their vertical dimensions whenclosed) is substantially greater than their depth. Each boxf ispivotally secured to the opposite side walls of compartment 12 by Theirextent of outward movement on their pivots is limited by straps 2secured to the outer sides of the boxes and the inner sides of thecompartment.

Each partition 9 and also the upper wall of the compartment b, is .cutaway, midway between its ends, to form a wedge-shaped recess n graduallywidening from its inner endto the outer edge of the partition. I Securedto the outer, edge of each partition, and also to the outer edge of theupper wall of the compartment, is a-plate 9' extending in front of therecess n. Secured to the front wall of each box f isa spring is, whichnormally extends, from its point of attach ment, outward at an acuteangle to the front wall, and thence bendsback toward the bottom of thebox. Secured to the free end of the spring is isa flexible strap. l.

The spring 70 is located midway between the ends of the box f andtherefore inposition to automatically engage the plate j when the box isswung intoits closed position and be depressed bythe plate until the boxismoved to its ultimate position, whereupon the spring is is free moveinto andsoocupy the recess n. In this position of the spring, its,outer-bent end abuts against the plate j, thereby preventing theaccidental opening of the box. The sprin is 'whollyconcealed from viewwhen the x is moved to its closed position. The box may

